Street and Tan sat outside HQ, letting the sun shine on their faces. "How's it going with Bonnie? Everything good?" wanted Street to know. "Yeah. We're really happy. It couldn't be better." Tan smiled. "How are your wedding preparations going? Do you guys still have a lot to do? It won't be too much longer, will it?" "The preparations are not going well. There's still so much to do, Bonnie and I can barely keep up since we both have to work so much. Bonnie is worried that we won't be able to get everything done by the deadline, after all, it's two months away. Getting her big family under one hat is also a problem. They're all spread out and Bonnie's worried they won't all be able to make it." "Shit, man, I'm sorry for you guys, but I'm sure there's something we can do about her family." Street felt for Tan. "But while we're on the subject... Street I wanted to ask you something." Tan looked a little uncertain. Street looked at him questioningly. "Go ahead, spit it out. The way you look, it must be something bad." he laughed.
"I, um, I was going to ask you if you wanted to be my best man?" Tan looked at Street, waiting for his answer. Street was silent, not saying a word, only his glow growing. "Are you kidding? Of course I am! It's an honor to be your best man!" "Oh great. I'm glad to hear that. Bonnie and I agreed on who we wanted from the start." The two hugged.
"Hey what's wrong with you guys? Why so sentimental?" a questioning Chris came around the corner. "Imagine who gets to be Tan's best man." Street pointed both thumbs at himself and beamed again. Tan and Chris had to laugh. "Oha Tan, I hope you realize what you're doing to yourself and Bonnie?" "Yo, don't do that Chris. I'm gonna be the most awesome and reliable best man ever!" said Street proudly. "So Tan, with Street as your best man, you can definitely be sure that your wedding won't be boring." Chris had to laugh again and the guys joined in. "I'm afraid so, though..." Tan held his hands in front of his face. "You guys really seem to think the worst of me and that's what they call friends. Pfff." Street acted offended. Chris went back inside and continued training, today was a quiet day. When she was done, her cell phone buzzed. When she looked at her display, she saw a message from Bonnie. With a smile she opened it.
Hey Chris, how about a little hike tomorrow? We haven't been out together for a while? Do you have time and want? Love Bonnie
Chris smiled when she read the message and agreed on a time and a meeting point with her. When Chris picked up Bonnie the next morning, she was happy. "Hi Chris, great that it worked out so spontaneously," and hugged Chris. "Hey Bonnie, I'm glad too, we haven't seen each other in a while." The two marched off toward the mountains, chatting about all sorts of things. "So how are your wedding plans going? Are you guys making good progress?" Chris was curious. "Oh, it's kind of a mess right now Chris." Bonnie looked a little depressed. Together they walked further and further up into the mountains. "You know Molly is one of my closest friends and I really wanted her to be my maid of honor. Yesterday we met and sent out the invitation cards and that's when she got a call from Pittsburgh. Her former boss asked for her help because of a family that seems to have a lot of violence going on and three children involved. He really wants her because she's so empathetic and just has a great instinct about cases like this." Chris continued to listen intently to Bonnie. "Yeah, and now," she sighed, "I don't have a maid of honor anymore. Molly has to fly out tomorrow morning and she can't be back until a few days before our wedding. Everything is going wrong Chris." Bonnie sniffled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to dump my problems on you right now." she smiled sadly at Chris. "Hey, you don't have to apologize, that's what friends are for." Chris took her in her arms to comfort her. "Thanks Chris. It feels good to talk to you about it." They continued walking up and when they arrived they had a gorgeous view. They had provisions with them and were enjoying them. Bonnie was deep in thought and Chris was looking over the horizon. Suddenly Bonnie jumped up. "My goodness. Why didn't I think of that earlier?" Chris looked at her with question marks on her face and frowned. "Chris, would you be my maid of honor? I mean, you and I have known each other for a long time now, too, and we're friends. I'm sure Molly would be totally relieved to know you'd be taking on this task." Bonnie beamed and looked at Chris expectantly. Chris was speechless with shock and horror. She was going to be Bonnie's maid of honor? She had no idea about weddings and certainly not about all the duties of a maid of honor. And then came the most serious point: she had to spend a lot of time with Street... She didn't know if she could, after all that had already happened between them. The kiss after the fundraiser, his confession after Erika's death and then there were her buried feelings for him.
"Chris?" Hello? Where are you right now?" a few seconds later Bonnie waved her hand in front of Chris' face. "Oh, um, sorry. I had to think for a second." she said, visibly confused. "Yeah, so? What do you say?" Bonnie was nervous and smiled. Chris could see her joy and just couldn't help it. "I would love to be your maid of honor Bonnie." she smiled now too. Bonnie fell around her neck. "Oh Chris, you don't know what this means to me." "And me only." Chris was glad Bonnie couldn't see her uncertain expression at that moment.
The next morning at HQ, Chris went to the kitchen to find Street there. "Good morning best man." she grinned at him. "Good morning maid of honor." the same he said. "So you already know." Chris came in amazement. "Sure, and I'm really glad you are. When I heard I was going to be planning the wedding with Molly, I was less than thrilled, but you can guess. We haven't said a word to each other since the breakup and - " "Street. Please, don't keep talking. You know how I feel about your breakup and you also know that you were a complete moron and Molly absolutely did not deserve this and neither did I for that matter." she looked at him seriously. "Oh man, am I going to have to listen to this for the rest of my life?" he rolled his eyes. "Can't we just put this behind us Chris?" he looked at her with pleading eyes. "Street it's not as easy as you make it out to be. You had me in a real shitty position and your words, in the evening with me, have not made it better." Chris looked down at the floor. "Chris - " she raised her hands defensively. "Please, let's just plan their wedding professionally and make sure it's the best day of their lives, okay? Nothing else matters right now." Chris didn't really believe her own words, but she wanted to get it across as confidently as possible. "Okay. We're adults and we should be able to work this out." "So we'll meet at my place for pizza after hours and start planning? Bonnie gave me a few more details yesterday while we were hiking that are important to her and Tan." "7:00 p.m. at your place. I'll bring pizza."
Street was right on time with Chris with pizza and beer. "So what do we have to do?" he asked right off the bat. Chris had gotten all the paperwork from Bonnie so they had an overview. "We both have to check now if really all invited guests have already accepted or if someone has forgotten. Then we have to order the wedding cake. I made us an appointment with the pastry chef for tomorrow afternoon. We'll both pick something out and he'll bake a sample cake. Once he's done, he'll call me and the four of us will go and Bonnie and Tan will ultimately decide if they want the cake that way or if any changes need to be made. The table - and menu cards are already ordered, you would need to pick them up next week Wednesday please. Saturday is the preliminary meeting with the wedding speaker. They wanted to have a neutral, free speaker. We're in on that too, so please keep that afternoon free." Street sat attentively next to Chris and tried to memorize all the points she rattled off. "Um Chris, Saturday afternoon I'll pick up the tickets, right?" Street was visibly unsure. "No Street! How many times I have to say it again? Saturday is the talk with the wedding speaker. Wednesday you pick up the cards. Wait, I'll save it to your phone so nothing goes wrong." Chris grabbed his phone and typed away. "Oh and Friday next week we have the rehearsal dinner with the two of them. 6:00 p.m. I'll save it for you right now, too." "God... These are appointments over appointments and it's already degenerating into stress and all for just one day. Man, unbelievable." he let himself sink exhausted into the sofa cushions. "I think that's enough reasons for me to never get married," Street groaned. Chris just raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes. She didn't want to comment on that right now, just so she wouldn't say the wrong thing.
After they had eaten and worked through the lists, the two said goodbye and everyone went to bed, quite exhausted by all the tasks.